A Million Little Things
by DanyTheConqueror
Summary: Friendship is made up of a million little things, which altogether form something special. Stories of Lily, Aurora, Claire, Naomi, Pippa, and Liv from their Hogwarts letters to the summer before their sixth year. [Set in the years before The Shadows Within.]
1. Dragon Heartstring & Unicorn Hair

**A Million Little Things**

Author's Note: The characters in these stories are the same as those in _The Shadows Within_, my novel set in the Marauder's sixth year. The events in these stories are all part of that same universe and some of them have been alluded to or mentioned in passing in the chapters of the novel that are already up. What you will find here are the "missing moments" and major events that happened leading up to the events of _The Shadows Within_, from first year through the summer before sixth year.

If you recognize it from the Harry Potter books, it belongs to JK Rowling.

So, without further ado, I would like to show you Naomi's first glimpse of the wizarding world.

**Dragon Heartstring &amp; Unicorn Hair**

_July 1971_

"This is Gringotts, the wizarding bank. You can change your Muggle money into gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts in here."

Eleven-year-old Naomi O'Connor looked up at the building, confused. Ever since she had learned that magic was real, she had figured that you would be able to fix anything and that it would be easy to make things look nice. But the building in front of her was leaning to one side with crooked pillars and unevenly spaced windows. She wondered why they wouldn't fix it with a simple spell if they could. As it was, the building looked like it could topple over if there was especially bad weather.

"You will have to exchange your money before you will be able to pick up the items on her school list, because the shops here do not accept your notes," the man showing them around said to her mother. His robes were fluttering in the breeze but, weirdly, she felt like she was the one who was most out of place in her normal shirt and trousers. "The goblins do it often, so it should be a quick process."

"Goblins?" her mother asked, sounding a bit faint. It was a tone she had been using a lot over the last week or two.

"Not to worry, ma'am. They are easy to work with," he paused, twirled the end of his pointy beard around his finger, then added, "as long as you don't try to cheat them, of course."

He led them up the steps and through a set of heavy doors. Naomi followed closely on her mother's heels to not fall behind and to avoid the stares of the goblins, who were a bit creepy. As her mother worked on exchanging a stack of Irish pounds into coins, Naomi looked around. She was staring through the massive glass dome on the roof, watching clouds float by overhead when her mother said, "Let's go now, Naomi."

Her mother sounded nervous, probably because the goblins were still looking at them. Naomi was eager to go, having seen all there was to see in the bank. This was probably the stop they had to make that she was looking forward to the least, but since they needed money there was not much she could do.

She could see her mother visibly relax when they were back out in the summer sun. "What would you like to do first?" her mother asked as she pulled the thick envelope with Naomi's school supply list on it out of her handbag.

Naomi didn't even have to think about her answer. "The wand shop!" she exclaimed, gripping her mother's forearm. "I think I saw a sign for it earlier, when Mr. Jorkins was showing us where everything is."

Thankfully her mother had no more experience with shopping for magical supplies than she did, so she was willing to do what Naomi wanted. "Will you be coming with us?" her mother asked Mr. Jorkins.

"No, no," he said. "I will be waiting outside of Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, which we passed earlier. You will be able to find me at one of the tables outside or near the door, if the ones outside are full."

Since they were going the same way he walked with them until they arrived outside of a shop with an old fashioned sign that read, "Ollivander's Wand Shop." Below it, in smaller letters, Naomi read, "Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C."

She wasn't sure if it was possible that something could have existed for more than two thousand years, but she didn't really care if the sign was exaggerating. As long as whoever worked here could give her an actual, working magic wand, she would let them make whatever claims they liked.

There was a soft chiming as she opened the door to the shop. It got the attention of a very old man, who must have been older than her granddad and the customers he was helping, a short girl with dark blonde hair and her mother. The man looked at Naomi as though he was trying to read her, which made her a bit uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything. It made her nervous.

"I, uh," she stammered. She took a deep breath before trying again. "I need to buy a wand for Hogwarts," she said, much more steadily.

"Of course," the man said. His voice was quieter than she was expecting. He gestured for her to step closer and, after excusing himself from the other girl, he pulled a measuring tape out of a bowl on his desk. "Wand arm?" he asked.

Naomi assumed that meant the hand she wrote with, so she said, "Right."

She took a step back in shock when the plastic yellow measuring tape he had been holding began to move all on its own. It was measuring her from fingertips to shoulder when she looked over at her mother, mouth agape and eyes wide. Her mother, standing beside the other girl's mother, looked just as surprised as she was.

The old man, who Naomi assumed must be Mr. Ollivander, had disappeared into the shelves that filled his store without another word. She was wondering how many different wands lined those shelves when the girl beside her asked, "Muggleborn?"

Her head snapped to the right, where the short girl was looking up at her. Mr. Jorkins had explained what Muggles were to her, so at least she knew what the other girl was asking. "Yes," she said. She guessed her surprise had made it obvious.

"My dad is a Muggle," the other girl said. "My mum's a witch though. She got her wand from Mr. Ollivander here before she started school."

Mr. Ollivander was back, having hardly made a sound. "I remember." His pale eyes focused on the girl's mother. "Dorothy Greengrass, now Gracin, daughter of Odin Greengrass. Spruce and unicorn hair and 12 inches long."

"That's right," the girl's mother – Dorothy – replied.

Mr. Ollivander turned back to the girls. "Aurora, take this," he said, handing her something. Turning to Naomi, he tilted his head to see the measurement of the circumference of her head. She was not certain what it had to do with anything, but he said, "Excellent."

The tape fell to her feet. Mr. Ollivander placed it back on his desk, then grabbed the wand out of Aurora's hand. "No," was all he said.

He was back a couple moments later, three more boxes in his hands. He pulled out a slightly crooked one and offered it to Naomi, saying, "Maple and unicorn hair, eleven and a half inches, bendy."

She had hardly touched it before he shook his head and passed her a second one. "Mahogany, thirteen inches, with a dragon heartstring core." As soon as she touched it, he was passing the third wand to Aurora. "This one is a springy spruce wand with a dragon heartstring core."

Naomi watched as a series of silver stars came out of the wand, even though Aurora had not said any sort of spell. She was glad to see that the other girl looked just as surprised as she did. "What…" she whispered, looking confused.

"Excellent, excellent," Mr. Ollivander said, speaking louder than ever. "The wand choses the witch and yours has just chosen you. Like I said, spruce wood and a dragon heartstring, measuring nine and one quarter inches long."

As Aurora's mother got money out of her change purse, Mr. Ollivander grabbed another box off the shelf in front of them. "Try this," he instructed before moving to take the money Dorothy was offering as payment for her daughter's wand.

Naomi watched, wand between her fingers doing nothing. As her mother was paying, Aurora looked at Naomi and asked, "What's your name anyway? I never asked."

"Naomi O'Connor," she replied.

"I'm Aurora Gracin," the girl said. "Maybe I'll see you at Hogwarts!" She grabbed the bag that Mr. Ollivander was offering and, with a wave, followed her mother out of the store.

Once Aurora and her mother were gone, Mr. Ollivander's speed increased tremendously. He was bringing back boxes of wands at a time and hardly let Naomi touch them before he would pull it from her grasp, claiming that something was not right. Once a bit of smoke had started coming out and Naomi had wondered if that was a good sign, but Mr. Ollivander was telling her that it was definitely not a match only seconds later.

She was starting to feel like it could be a very long process, having already tried to use a dozen wands, when Mr. Ollivander handed her another. "Try this. Pear, eleven inches, with a unicorn hair core."

When the wand was placed in her fingers, there was no question in Naomi's mind that this was the one for her. She wasn't sure how she could explain it, but the somehow she just knew that this was going to be the wand she went to Hogwarts with. She broke out into a grin.

"Ah, you can feel the difference," Mr. Ollivander said. She wasn't really sure, but she thought he sounded pleased.

Naomi's mother pulled six of the golden coins and several silver ones out of her purse to pay Mr. Ollivander for the wand. As soon as she could, Naomi took it back from the wand maker, wanting to carry it rather than having her mother hold it. Now that she had her very own magic wand, one that had chosen her to wield it, she was starting to feel like maybe she really could be a witch. It was a weird feeling for somebody who had not even know that magic was real a few weeks prior, but it made her feel wonderful.


	2. The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

**A Million Little Things**

Author's Note: The characters in these stories are the same as those in _The Shadows Within_, my novel set in the Marauder's sixth year. The events in these stories are all part of that same universe and some of them have been alluded to or mentioned in passing in the chapters of the novel that are already up. What you will find here are the "missing moments" and major events that happened leading up to the events of _The Shadows Within_, from first year through the summer before sixth year.

If you recognize it from the Harry Potter books, it belongs to JK Rowling.

So, without further ado, I would like to show you Naomi's first glimpse of the wizarding world.

**Dragon Heartstring &amp; Unicorn Hair**

_July 1971_

"This is Gringotts, the wizarding bank. You can change your Muggle money into gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts in here."

Eleven-year-old Naomi O'Connor looked up at the building, confused. Ever since she had learned that magic was real, she had figured that you would be able to fix anything and that it would be easy to make things look nice. But the building in front of her was leaning to one side with crooked pillars and unevenly spaced windows. She wondered why they wouldn't fix it with a simple spell if they could. As it was, the building looked like it could topple over if there was especially bad weather.

"You will have to exchange your money before you will be able to pick up the items on her school list, because the shops here do not accept your notes," the man showing them around said to her mother. His robes were fluttering in the breeze but, weirdly, she felt like she was the one who was most out of place in her normal shirt and trousers. "The goblins do it often, so it should be a quick process."

"Goblins?" her mother asked, sounding a bit faint. It was a tone she had been using a lot over the last week or two.

"Not to worry, ma'am. They are easy to work with," he paused, twirled the end of his pointy beard around his finger, then added, "as long as you don't try to cheat them, of course."

He led them up the steps and through a set of heavy doors. Naomi followed closely on her mother's heels to not fall behind and to avoid the stares of the goblins, who were a bit creepy. As her mother worked on exchanging a stack of Irish pounds into coins, Naomi looked around. She was staring through the massive glass dome on the roof, watching clouds float by overhead when her mother said, "Let's go now, Naomi."

Her mother sounded nervous, probably because the goblins were still looking at them. Naomi was eager to go, having seen all there was to see in the bank. This was probably the stop they had to make that she was looking forward to the least, but since they needed money there was not much she could do.

She could see her mother visibly relax when they were back out in the summer sun. "What would you like to do first?" her mother asked as she pulled the thick envelope with Naomi's school supply list on it out of her handbag.

Naomi didn't even have to think about her answer. "The wand shop!" she exclaimed, gripping her mother's forearm. "I think I saw a sign for it earlier, when Mr. Jorkins was showing us where everything is."

Thankfully her mother had no more experience with shopping for magical supplies than she did, so she was willing to do what Naomi wanted. "Will you be coming with us?" her mother asked Mr. Jorkins.

"No, no," he said. "I will be waiting outside of Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, which we passed earlier. You will be able to find me at one of the tables outside or near the door, if the ones outside are full."

Since they were going the same way he walked with them until they arrived outside of a shop with an old fashioned sign that read, "Ollivander's Wand Shop." Below it, in smaller letters, Naomi read, "Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C."

She wasn't sure if it was possible that something could have existed for more than two thousand years, but she didn't really care if the sign was exaggerating. As long as whoever worked here could give her an actual, working magic wand, she would let them make whatever claims they liked.

There was a soft chiming as she opened the door to the shop. It got the attention of a very old man, who must have been older than her granddad and the customers he was helping, a short girl with dark blonde hair and her mother. The man looked at Naomi as though he was trying to read her, which made her a bit uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything. It made her nervous.

"I, uh," she stammered. She took a deep breath before trying again. "I need to buy a wand for Hogwarts," she said, much more steadily.

"Of course," the man said. His voice was quieter than she was expecting. He gestured for her to step closer and, after excusing himself from the other girl, he pulled a measuring tape out of a bowl on his desk. "Wand arm?" he asked.

Naomi assumed that meant the hand she wrote with, so she said, "Right."

She took a step back in shock when the plastic yellow measuring tape he had been holding began to move all on its own. It was measuring her from fingertips to shoulder when she looked over at her mother, mouth agape and eyes wide. Her mother, standing beside the other girl's mother, looked just as surprised as she was.

The old man, who Naomi assumed must be Mr. Ollivander, had disappeared into the shelves that filled his store without another word. She was wondering how many different wands lined those shelves when the girl beside her asked, "Muggleborn?"

Her head snapped to the right, where the short girl was looking up at her. Mr. Jorkins had explained what Muggles were to her, so at least she knew what the other girl was asking. "Yes," she said. She guessed her surprise had made it obvious.

"My dad is a Muggle," the other girl said. "My mum's a witch though. She got her wand from Mr. Ollivander here before she started school."

Mr. Ollivander was back, having hardly made a sound. "I remember." His pale eyes focused on the girl's mother. "Dorothy Greengrass, now Gracin, daughter of Odin Greengrass. Spruce and unicorn hair and 12 inches long."

"That's right," the girl's mother – Dorothy – replied.

Mr. Ollivander turned back to the girls. "Aurora, take this," he said, handing her something. Turning to Naomi, he tilted his head to see the measurement of the circumference of her head. She was not certain what it had to do with anything, but he said, "Excellent."

The tape fell to her feet. Mr. Ollivander placed it back on his desk, then grabbed the wand out of Aurora's hand. "No," was all he said.

He was back a couple moments later, three more boxes in his hands. He pulled out a slightly crooked one and offered it to Naomi, saying, "Maple and unicorn hair, eleven and a half inches, bendy."

She had hardly touched it before he shook his head and passed her a second one. "Mahogany, thirteen inches, with a dragon heartstring core." As soon as she touched it, he was passing the third wand to Aurora. "This one is a springy spruce wand with a dragon heartstring core."

Naomi watched as a series of silver stars came out of the wand, even though Aurora had not said any sort of spell. She was glad to see that the other girl looked just as surprised as she did. "What…" she whispered, looking confused.

"Excellent, excellent," Mr. Ollivander said, speaking louder than ever. "The wand choses the witch and yours has just chosen you. Like I said, spruce wood and a dragon heartstring, measuring nine and one quarter inches long."

As Aurora's mother got money out of her change purse, Mr. Ollivander grabbed another box off the shelf in front of them. "Try this," he instructed before moving to take the money Dorothy was offering as payment for her daughter's wand.

Naomi watched, wand between her fingers doing nothing. As her mother was paying, Aurora looked at Naomi and asked, "What's your name anyway? I never asked."

"Naomi O'Connor," she replied.

"I'm Aurora Gracin," the girl said. "Maybe I'll see you at Hogwarts!" She grabbed the bag that Mr. Ollivander was offering and, with a wave, followed her mother out of the store.

Once Aurora and her mother were gone, Mr. Ollivander's speed increased tremendously. He was bringing back boxes of wands at a time and hardly let Naomi touch them before he would pull it from her grasp, claiming that something was not right. Once a bit of smoke had started coming out and Naomi had wondered if that was a good sign, but Mr. Ollivander was telling her that it was definitely not a match only seconds later.

She was starting to feel like it could be a very long process, having already tried to use a dozen wands, when Mr. Ollivander handed her another. "Try this. Pear, eleven inches, with a unicorn hair core."

When the wand was placed in her fingers, there was no question in Naomi's mind that this was the one for her. She wasn't sure how she could explain it, but the somehow she just knew that this was going to be the wand she went to Hogwarts with. She broke out into a grin.

"Ah, you can feel the difference," Mr. Ollivander said. She wasn't really sure, but she thought he sounded pleased.

Naomi's mother pulled six of the golden coins and several silver ones out of her purse to pay Mr. Ollivander for the wand. As soon as she could, Naomi took it back from the wand maker, wanting to carry it rather than having her mother hold it. Now that she had her very own magic wand, one that had chosen her to wield it, she was starting to feel like maybe she really could be a witch. It was a weird feeling for somebody who had not even know that magic was real a few weeks prior, but it made her feel wonderful.


	3. Don't Get Your Knickers in a Twist

Author's Note: The events of this chapter have been mentioned in passing during the chapters of _The Shadows Within_. Lily does not go in depth into the events that happened during the breakup, but I felt like the day in question was worthy of its own chapter.

If you are interested the one-shot _Map Makers_ looks at James and Remus in December of 1972 (between this and the last chapter). It is also a part of the same universe as this and _The Shadows Within_.

With that said, let's get to the middle of third year.

**Don't Get Your Knickers in a Twist**

_February 14__th__, 1974_

Lily and Claire walked back from their Care of Magical Creatures class side by side, heads bent close together as fluffy snowflakes fell all around them. The lesson had been rather dull, requiring them to stuff lettuce down flobberworms' throats to get the damn things to eat it, but that had been all the better for them because it was Valentine's Day and they had other things on their minds.

"Remus Lupin was totally looking at you," Claire giggled. "He was trying to get your attention, I know it."

"He's Potter and Black's friend, gross," Lily said, wrinkling her nose for effect. "Sev would kill me!"

"But he's nicer than them," Claire argued. "Plus, he's kinda cute."

Lily shrugged, trying to act like she didn't care. In reality she did think that Remus Lupin was cute and, yes, so were Potter and Black, although nobody could get her to admit the latter two without the use of extreme force. But their good looks were of no interest to her since they were noisy attention hogs who were always teasing Severus. She had no interest in him in that way and barely had any desire to spend time with any of them.

Claire giggled again. "Fine then, don't agree. Maybe I'll have to flirt with him then."

Lily laughed loudly. "You? Flirt?" Claire's cheeks flushed, but Lily knew that she wasn't angry. "Well, if you do come out of your shell enough to ask him to Hogsmeade maybe you can go on a double date with Aurora and Sirius."

At the moment, Aurora was the only one who had a proper boyfriend. Liv and Naomi had been to Hogsmeade with people on the last trip, but they weren't officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Sirius and Aurora had been going out for a month and a half already and, in case any of them were likely to forget it, they were often holding hands and snogging in the common room. Their public displays of affection were bad for Lily, who was stuck dealing with Sirius Black if she wanted to be near her best friend every night. Even worse, Black would often bring his mates with him and they would start hooting and hollering, speaking so loudly and so often that she would struggle to get a word in edgewise. Eventually she had gotten so frustrated that she had taken to spending more time doing her homework in the library, dragging Sev along for somebody to talk to. Thankfully, he was usually willing to come along with her to keep her company, even when he had no work of his own to do.

Lily stomped her boots just inside the Entrance Hall, trying to get all of the sticky snow off so she wouldn't be dragging too much water through the school. The new caretaker, Mr. Filch, was at least as strict as Mr. Pringle had been about people making messes and so far, she had stayed on his good side. She had heard from Pippa earlier that he had been in an especially bad mood today. She claimed that he had been loudly cursing the Valentine's Day confetti and gift wrap lying around, so she really did not want to cross him if he was in such a foul mood.

When the clumps of snow were gone from their boots, she and Claire walked into the Great Hall and made a beeline for the Gryffindor table. Strangely, shoving things down a flobberworm's throat for an hour had done nothing to curb their appetites.

"Why is Aurora sitting by herself?" Claire asked.

Lily's eyes rested on a head with honey coloured hair that was sitting with at least two empty seats on either side. Across the table from her there was… Pippa? "I don't know, but I bet it isn't good if Pip's at our table."

They approached Aurora slowly, not wanting to make her snap if something was wrong or if she was in a bad mood. Lily met eyes with Pippa, who had been leaning across the table and whispering something to Aurora. The brunette pointed and Aurora turned around.

Before either she or Claire had any time to ask what was going on, Aurora announced, "Sirius and I broke up."

"On Valentine's Day?" Claire asked incredulously. Her big eyes were even wider than usual. "Why would you break up _today_?"

"We got into a fight," Aurora huffed, folding her arms across her chest. "Apparently he thought that it was normal to not get your girlfriend a present on Valentine's Day. He didn't even get me a bloody _card_."

Lily dropped her school bag on the bench. "Well, isn't that something you can move on from?" She pulled off her wool hat and dropped it on top of her bag, before shaking out her thick hair.

Aurora blinked. "Sit down, I have to tell you the rest of it."

In true Aurora fashion, she told the rest of the tale in a dramatic voice with hand gestures. Apparently she and Sirius had met in the common room while the others were at their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Aurora had given him a handwritten love letter she had been working on the night before and the gift she'd bought for him during their last Hogsmeade trip.

"So, after he's read the note and opened his present, he gives me a kiss and thanks me. And then," she sighed, "he says 'Sorry, I didn't get you anything.'"

"I'm sorry he was a prat," Claire said, placing a hand on Aurora's forearm. "Did he at least offer to try to make it up to you?"

Aurora snorted, showing what she thought about that. From across the table Pippa said, "Wait til you hear what his response was."

"What did he say?" Lily asked, knowing that this was the question she was supposed to ask to keep the story moving forward.

"He actually had the balls to say, 'We've only been dating for six weeks, so I didn't think I had to get you anything.'"

Claire wrinkled her nose. "Ouch."

"I know!" Aurora exclaimed loudly enough to turn some heads. "But that's not all. When I told him that clearly I had thought we were exchanging gifts and that it hurt my feelings that he would say that, he told me…" she paused for dramatic effect, "_not to get my knickers in a twist over nothing_."

Lily's eyebrows shot up. She was not a big fan of Sirius Black at times, but she had at least thought that he was smart. Clearly, if he was going to say that to Aurora of all people on Valentine's Day, he was not as intelligent as she had originally thought. Unless he had a death wish, of course, in which case he had figured out a sure fire way to have a hex or two thrown in his direction.

"Let me guess, that's when the fight started," Claire said.

"Damn right that's when the fight started," Aurora said with a nod. "I started yelling at him then he started yelling back at me. I think we actually scared some of the younger kids out, because a handful of the second years who had been sitting near the fire went up to their dorm a few minutes in." She sounded a bit proud of the fact that the fight had been such a throw down that they had disturbed the younger students enough that they got up and left the room.

"Which one of you initiated the break up?" Lily asked.

Aurora hesitated. "I don't even know." She shrugged. "It probably doesn't matter anyway, since I don't think either of us wanted to stay together after the fight. But, if anybody asks what happened, you have to say that I dumped him because of his stupidity."

Lily laughed. "Sure thing," she promised. Pippa and Claire followed suit, assuring Aurora that they would tell anybody who asked about how Sirius had messed up.

Aurora nodded, looking content. "I'll have to make sure Naomi and Liv do the same."

"I can tell Naomi when I go back to our table," Pippa offered. "And we have Charms with the Ravenclaws after lunch, so I can tell Liv then."

"Thanks," Aurora said. After a minute she sighed and said, "I can't believe that I wasted some of my hard earned money on that idiot. We broke up because he didn't get me a present and he didn't even give me the bloody chocolate bar I had given him back!"

"You're kidding," Lily said.

"I wish I was," Aurora said with a loud sigh. "At least if he gave it back I would have gotten something for Valentine's Day, even if I had to buy it myself."

As the girls continued to discuss Sirius's unbelievable stupidity, Lily found herself having a hard time not grinning through it all. She knew that it was bad to be happy when her friend had just been broken up with on what was supposed to be the most romantic day of the year, but a part of her was happy. Without Sirius taking up so much of Aurora's attention, she would have her best friend back and would not need to put up with Black and his friends to spend time with Aurora.


	4. Gryffindor's Third Chaser

Author's Note: We are still in 1974, but we have skipped forward several months into the beginning of fourth year.

**Chaser Number Three**

_September 1974_

One of Aurora's earliest memories was when she was about four years old. She was sitting in a crowded football stadium, between her father and her older brother, Felix. She had been short even then, so she had sat on a pile of their coats to give her a bit of a boost, leaving her feet dangling well above the ground.

Her father had held onto her hand and used his other to point out what was happening. He had told her about what the different players were supposed to be doing and what they were called. She could no longer remember exactly what he had said or how things had turned out, but she remembered being happy to be watching football with her father.

They didn't go to games often, but her father had shared his love of football with her anyway. When her brother started learning to fly, her father had taken the time to learn all of the rules of Quidditch. As a Muggle he hadn't been able to fly with them, but he had watched Aurora and Felix zip around overhead. They would occasionally fly with their mother, but she was not as invested in sports as her father. He had cheered them on and even tried to give her and Felix tips on how to improve when they would play as Chaser and Keeper one on one.

By the time her father taught her how to play football, showing her drills and exercises to help her get faster and stronger, Felix was already great at it. He would play with the local Muggle boys who went to their elementary school at the field in the park, kicking around whatever beat up ball somebody had brought. Most of the time, they wouldn't let her play, but when they did she thought she held her own. It was hard because she was shorter than them all and nobody wanted to lose to a girl, but she always managed to score at least a few goals. She wasn't as strong as the rest of them, but she was fast.

She was never ever to keep up with Felix's learning curve for football, no matter how hard she tried. He did not have that advantage with Quidditch. Even though Felix was three years older than her, she had always been the better flier. Her brother was smarter and more patient and a faster runner, but he couldn't fly like she could. He did best as a Keeper, since it was the position that allowed him to do the least amount of flying and let his quick catching reflexes shine. She improved along with him though and this past summer, she was making more shots than ever.

This year would be her year, she told herself as she walked down to the Quidditch pitch on the day of the tryouts, broom slung over her shoulder. She had tried out in second year and third year with no luck, but she thought this year would be different. She kept repeating it to herself as her friends gossiped around her about something or another. She couldn't let herself get distracted if she was going to make it this year.

Her father had thought it would be her year too. When he was giving her a hug goodbye before she boarded the Hogwarts Express on the first, he had whispered, "This is your year Rory. My little Chaser." He didn't have a magical bone in his body, but Aurora valued his opinion on matters like this.

As she stood on the edge of the pitch, she hoped she wouldn't let her father down.

Like in years past, all of her friends had made the trip down to the pitch with her, even though she didn't talk on the way. Lily had absolutely no interest in flying herself and Claire, while interested in professional Quidditch and the actual games, had made it clear she did not intend to try out for the team herself. Even knowing this, Aurora was not surprised they joined her for tryouts. After all they were still Gryffindors and they had both enjoyed watching their team's victory in second year. They were far from the only Gryffindors who came to see who would join their team, even though they weren't trying to join themselves.

What really pleased Aurora was the fact that her other friends came. She and Liv fought over stupid things, maybe because they were more similar than either of them wanted to admit, but she was there, wrapped up in an oversized Ravenclaw sweater. Pippa and Naomi came to cheer her on too, even though Aurora knew they would much rather be sleeping in.

Her friends had wished her luck before disappearing into the crowd that had gathered. Aurora huddled with some familiar faces, standing on her tiptoes to try to see over all of the taller students between her and the captain. From what she could see, he seemed to be looking down at his watch a lot, ignoring the chattering around him and the fact that his long hair was blowing in his face.

Finally, his watch must have showed the time he was waiting for. The cool autumn wind drowned out the sound of their captain a bit, but he was able to project his voice loudly enough that the general idea got across. "Raise your hand if you want to play chaser," Mark Robins bellowed. Aurora raised her hand with the others and the captain did a quick head count, ticking them off with his pointer finger. "Okay. Everybody on their brooms. You have to fly five laps around the pitch. Now."

She wondered if he was serious when she saw James Potter zoom past her, black hair flying all over the place as he went. Cursing at her own slowness, she threw her leg over her broom and kicked off as hard as she could. She had some time to make up.

The wind whistled in her ears as she picked up speed. Strands of honey coloured hair blew in her face, even though she had pulled it all back in a ponytail. In the future, she would need to remember to plait it or put it up in a bun for optimal visibility. Of course, that would only really matter if she managed to make the team.

She leaned forward on her broom, trying to coax the last bit of speed out of it as she approached a burly upperclassman. As she whipped past him, she couldn't help but smile.

As she finished her fifth lap of the pitch, she was close on the tail of a seventh year who had her dark hair pinned back into a tight bun. Unfortunately, she was still looking at the back of the girl's head when she touched down on the pitch. Beyond the girl she could see two familiar faces: Lance MacFarlan, the guy who had beat her out for the open spot as Chaser last year, and James Potter, who had somehow made the team when they were twelve. Fourth was good, given the pool of people who were trying out, but it wasn't good enough. She would really need to impress them with her shooting if she was going to beat the seventh year who had out flown her.

Aurora gave herself a silent pep talk about how she could do this. Sure three people had beaten her but two of them had made the team last year, so it was really like she only had the seventh year to compete with. In most cases that would be bad, but when it came to Quidditch age wasn't an advantage. And this year she had practiced more than ever. Even Felix, who would sometimes play goal with his mates from Hogwarts and on his football team, had a hard time with her shots. She jumped back and forth from foot to foot trying to think positively. She was doing well.

"You six," Mark Robins said, pointing to the first six who had finished their laps. "You'll be taking some shots against me now. As for the rest of you, thanks for trying out but you won't be needed any further."

There were some grumbles as the others moved away, some of them looking angry about being cut while others looked completely unsurprised by the fact that they were not chosen. "Potter, we're starting with you," Robins said, pointing to James. "You have ten shots, better make them good."

Aurora watched as James grinned. He kicked off and was up in a flash, Quaffle under his left arm as he reached playing height. After playing on the team for two years he was clearly confident and looked like he wasn't even considering that he wouldn't make the team.

Aurora watched as James flew back and forth, catching the Quaffle every time it was tossed back in his direction. He was zigging and zagging, making it hard to see what he was going to do. When he flew back down after his tenth shot, one that went through the left hoop to score a spectacularly fast goal, he looked very pleased with his performance.

Lance MacFarlan, a fifth year who had first joined the team the year before, was called up next. Lance was fast and did fairly well, but he didn't manage to get as many shots in as James. Even so, he had several shots that Robins was only able to catch by his fingertips. He looked less cocky than James when he landed back on the ground, but from the way Lance and James high fived Aurora knew that they both were sure they would make the team again.

The seventh year girl who had just beaten Aurora was called up next. It quickly became clear that while she was an amazing flier, she was not as good with her aim as she was at controlling a broomstick. She did get one shot in but only two of her others even came close. As she missed her tenth shot, Aurora had to bite the inside of her mouth to keep from smiling. The sheer number of misses meant that she still had a decent chance, as long as she could get a good number of high quality shots herself.

Her stomach felt like it was full of butterflies as she kicked off. Thankfully, her instincts were good and she managed to catch the Quaffle when it was thrown her way even though she was nervous. After taking a couple deep breaths to try to calm herself down, she tucked the Quaffle under her arm and started down the pitch to where Mark Robins was hovering in front of the goal hoops.

Her first shot wasn't great, but her second was only inches away from going in because she had managed to shoot at the far hoop at the last minute. With the confidence from that good shot on her side, she made two more amazing shots before getting her fifth cleanly through the middle hoop, not even touching the ring of gold.

She was able to get another goal and show a couple of her better moves on the other shots that she missed. She thought that Robins looked impressed when he told her that she could go back down, but she wasn't sure if she was just seeing what she wanted to see. After all, she had been pretty confident that the last year she had done well and their old captain hadn't selected her.

Knowing that there was nothing left that she could do to change the outcome of the selection, Aurora watched nervously beside the other three who had already shot as the final two Chaser hopefuls took their best shots at Robins. Aurora was almost positive that she did better than the boy who flew immediately after her. It was a bit harder to tell with the last girl, but she thought that she still had the slight edge. At the very least, she hoped that she had the edge.

Robins flew back down from his goal hoops and hopped off his broom. "Okay, I want to see passes. All six of you get back in the air and pass to each other while flying. You three," he pointed to Aurora, James, and the girl who had gone last, "will pass to each other while you three," he pointed to the others, "will be a team. James's group will start with the Quaffle and the other three will try to steal from them or catch the passes midair. After a few minutes, I'll call up for you guys to switch. Understand?"

Aurora nodded. She had confidence that she could do this well. Her aim was good and as long as she didn't make any stupid shots when the other trio were around, she should be able to pass to James and the other girl without issues.

They passed for longer than she was expecting before the captain called up at them to switch. Nobody had managed to intercept any of her passes, although Lance had come close one time, so she felt a new surge of confidence as James threw the Quaffle over to the other group.

She managed to graze the Quaffle one time and actually grab hold of it another, which had left her with a huge grin on her face. She was still smiling when Mark Robins called them back down to the ground.

The six of them huddled around the Gryffindor captain, eagerly waiting to hear if they had made the team or not. "I have enough information to make my decision," he said. "Some of you aren't going to like it, but it's for the good of the team. Potter, MacFarlan, you're back." James whooped and high fived Lance again, which Robins ignored. "For the third, I've chosen Aurora Gracin."

Aurora's eyes widened. She had done it. After three years of trying, she had finally been chosen for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Her father had been right, she had been able to do it. All of the practicing this summer, throwing things at her brother, had paid off. A wide grin spread across her face as the realization sunk in.

She felt somebody toss an arm over her shoulder. Looking up to see who had done it, she found herself looking up at James Potter's grinning face. "Welcome to the team," he said.

If possible, she smiled even wider. "Thanks. Just know you won't be Gryffindor's star chaser anymore."

James let out a deep laugh. "We'll see about that Rory, we'll see."

She climbed up the stands to her group of friends, who were easy to spot between Liv's blue sweater and Lily's fiery hair. She was still grinning when she sat down beside Naomi, who was sitting on the bench below Pippa and the other Gryffindors.

"Congratulations."

"I knew you could do it."

"You're going to have to send an owl to your dad with the good news."

She pushed some of the stray hairs out of her face as she looked at them all. They seemed genuinely excited for her, and she didn't even think it was just because they would be glad that they wouldn't have to deal with her disappointment this year. "Thanks guys," she said. If possible, she smiled wider.

"We got you something," Lily said.

Aurora watched, curious, as Lily opened her bag. A moment later, her best friend was passing her a folded sheet of parchment with the words "Gryffindor's Best Chaser" scrawled on the front in block letters. Around the words there were rough drawings of broomsticks, a snitch, and three somewhat misshapen goal posts.

Opening the card, she was surprised to see five different handwritten messages. Without even reading the messages she could tell who wrote what, from Claire's neat cursive to Naomi's large, rounded printing. "You guys were this confident I would make the team?" she asked, touched.

A few of them exchanged looks. "We were prepared for all of the possible outcomes," Naomi admitted. She hastily added, "We thought you would make the team but, just in case, we had another one ready."

As though confirmation was needed, Lily pulled a second piece of parchment out of her bag. "I can just toss this later," she said, ripping it into quarters.

"I'm glad you won't be needing that," Aurora said as she watched Lily shoving the scraps into her bag.

"Me too," Lily admitted.

They stayed for the rest of the tryouts, watching the students who were trying out as Beaters fly next and those who wanted to be Seekers fly at the very end. Aurora knew she should be paying attention to see who else would be joining her on the team, maybe even joining in her friends' discussions about the people they recognized, but she didn't. As she heard her friends talking and watched her new captain pointing and shouting what he wanted, all she could think about was how lucky she was to now be Gryffindor's third Chaser.


	5. Career Choices

Author's Note: Fifth year is the year of Ordinary Wizarding Levels and, understandably, that gets a lot of focus. But here, we will see Liv taking part in one of the most important events of the year: career counselling with her head of house.

* * *

**Career Choices**

_October 1975_

Professor Flitwick's office was on the seventh floor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, well down one of the corridors. It was next to a mostly unused tower and a fair distance from the nearest classroom, so Professor Flitwick was able to do most of his work in peace and quiet.

There had been a handful of occasions that Liv had gone to see her head of house in his office, but they were far and few between. Usually, if she really needed to speak to him, she would find him in his classroom, since he spent at least as much time there as in his office. He was always willing to lend a hand to students who were struggling and was more approachable than some of the other professors, so it wasn't an unusual sight to see a student or two in there with him.

She hadn't been expecting to come to see him until, two days previously at breakfast, a barn owl had landed in front of her and outstretched its leg. As soon as she'd taken the parchment off its leg, it had flown away, disappearing into the crowd of owls almost instantly.

The parchment had started to curl back on itself almost immediately, so she had placed her glass of pumpkin juice near the top of the scroll. She did her best to smooth down the parchment, keeping her hand on the lower part of the letter so she could read the message that had been scrawled in dark ink.

_Ms. Madley:_

_Every student is expected to meet with his or her head of house during the autumn of his or her fifth year. I have allocated you time on Wednesday the fifteenth to discuss your future, including your upcoming OWLs and your future career._

_If you have not already, please look at the brochures in the Common Room._

_Your meeting time: three o'clock in the afternoon of 15 October, 1975 in my office (7__th__ floor)_

_Warm wishes,_

_Professor F. Flitwick_

The letter didn't surprise her. Her eldest brother had mentioned meeting with Professor Flitwick years ago and it had stuck around in the back of her mind ever since. In past years, she had seen upper year students pouring over brightly coloured brochures and pamphlets in the Common Room. She had even flipped through some on her own once or twice, out of curiosity. Yet she had never truly looked through them until her own impending meeting loomed overhead.

She had arrived outside of Flitwick's office ten minutes early on her assigned day, not wanting to be late for something so important. Posted outside the door was a piece of paper with names and times written upon it in deep blue ink. Liv scanned the afternoon slots and read:  
_2:30 – Paul Jenkins  
3:00 – Lavinia Madley  
3:30 – Xavier Nicholson_

She glanced from her watch to the schedule to the closed door and back again. Working under the assumption that Paul would still be in the office, she sat on the hard backed wooden chair that was a couple feet away from Professor Flitwick's door and waited.

Evidently, Paul intended to use up all of his allotted time, because the minutes ticked by without any signs of movement from inside the office. Even when she strained to hear, she couldn't hear a single sound from Professor Flitwick or Paul, not even the scraping of a chair or a cough. Knowing Professor Flitwick, he had probably cast a charm so nobody could eavesdrop on private conversations he had. She tried to remember if it had always been like this or if this was something new, done solely to protect the privacy of students. She didn't know if she had ever heard any noise from inside the office but, then again, had she ever tried to hear before?

Liv snapped out of her thoughts when the silence was broken by the squeaking of a door hinge as Paul Jenkins stepped into the corridor. His dark eyes locked with hers as he pulled the door shut and he gave a nod of his head.

"How did it go?" Liv asked.

"Well, I don't think I'll be making as much money as Joey anytime soon but Flitwick had some recommendations for me," Paul replied.

Liv laughed. Joey would have to be Joey Jenkins, Paul's older cousin who played beater for the notoriously bad Chudley Canons. Yet, despite their horrible record (they had won exactly two games in the previous Quidditch season) and their bright orange robes, the team somehow managed to maintain their fairly big fan base.

Paul grinned. "Flitwick's free if you're ready. Good luck."

She thanked him as she pushed herself off the chair. She did her best to straighten out her school tie and to smooth down her skirt before she opened the door to Flitwick's office. Even though she'd seen him in Charms that morning, she wanted to make sure she looked pulled together before the meeting.

She opened the door a crack, just enough to peek around. "Professor Flitwick?" she asked.

The tiny professor was sitting at his desk, which would have been big compared to a wizard of normal height but looked positively massive next to Professor Flitwick. "Come in!" he said, gesturing for her to sit down in one of the plush blue chairs on the opposite side of his desk.

Liv shut the door behind her before taking the seat nearest a wall of bookshelves, most of which had been haphazardly filled with books of all different colours and sizes. The only common themes that Liv was able to spot for the books was that they all looked like they had been read many times over and that they all looked academic in nature. More books were in piles on the professor's desk, mixed in with rolls of parchment in a basket he must have needed to grade.

"Right on time," Flitwick squeaked, giving Liv a smile. "Do you have any ideas of what you would like to pursue for your career?"

She had put a lot of thought into it. After her classes on the day she got Professor Flitwick's letter, Liv had walked up to Ravenclaw Tower to get a better idea of what she wanted to do after she graduated from Hogwarts. As soon as she had claimed one of the good seats, close enough to the fire that it was still warm but far enough from the tables used for games that it wouldn't be too noisy, she had gone up to the bulletin board to see what the brochures said.

There had been more of them than she was expecting, stacked in small piles. She had started on the left-hand side, where the headline of a lavender pamphlet asked her if she wanted to learn about wand making. It had sounded at least somewhat interesting, so she had grabbed one off the stack and moved on to the second pile ("Great with words? The _Daily Prophet_ wants you to join our editing team!").

She had been surprised to figure out exactly how many jobs there were. She had known about a lot of the big ones: ministry workers, shop owners, and teachers seemed obvious. Other jobs she had known about somewhat, but she just hadn't realized how many different areas there were. The _Daily Prophet_ alone had several different brochures. There were writers and editors, photographers and wizards who ran the printing press, mass distributors and even wizards who would tie the paper onto the delivery owls every morning. It was enough to make her head spin.

Even with her selective choosing of pamphlets to read, it had taken longer than she expected to read through them all. She managed to toss most of them fairly quickly, because they either seemed too boring or because they required NEWTs and OWLs from classes she wasn't taking. Yet, as much as some of the brochures cast their careers in interesting lights, she was still drawn to the same thing she had always been.

She told Professor Flitwick that much. "I looked through everything in the Common Room, but none of them were able to beat what I already had in mind."

Her professor nodded and reached for a long, fluffy white quill. "I'm glad you're so confident in your choice," he said. "So, what is it you're interested in?"

"I want to be an Unspeakable," she said firmly.

That didn't seem to be the answer Professor Flitwick was expecting. His hand that had been reaching for the ink bottle had stopped a few inches short. "An Unspeakable?" he repeated. "That's a very difficult career path, Ms. Madley. The requirements are very strict. I only see one student from my house every two or three years who even attempts to apply for the job."

She forced herself to sit up straighter. "I know," she replied. "Both of my parents are Unspeakables, so I know it can be hard to get in and that it's hard to get the marks needed. But I still think that I can do it."

"Both your parents are Unspeakables?" he repeated. She nodded and he dipped the quill in the ink pot. Liv watched as he wrote the word "Unspeakable" on the top of a fresh piece of parchment. "What classes are you taking Lavinia?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, History of Magic, Arithmancy, Astronomy, and Ancient Runes." She ticked the classes off on her fingers as she went, making sure that she had named all eight of the courses she was taking.

Professor Flitwick tapped his fingertips on the table, apparently deep in thought. "You would have to take most of those next year at the NEWT level to have a chance at becoming an Unspeakable," he said slowly. He opened up a desk drawer and thumbed through its contents. A couple of minutes later, he took out a brochure with a silver cover. He opened it up and placed it on the desk between them, turned so they could both read it.

Liv looked over as Professor Flitwick pointed to a bullet point on the first page, below the photo of a very serious looking witch. "You will require a minimum of five NEWTs to be considered for the position, but having six NEWTs is seen as an asset." The witch in the photo nodded her head. "Of the eight classes you are currently taking, I would recommend dropping only two or three after you finish your OWLs to give you the best chance in your application to the Department of Mysteries."

She knew that both of her parents had six NEWTs, so Professor Flitwick's comments did not come as a surprise. "I was prepared to hear that," she said.

"You will require an Exceeds Expectations on your OWLs in Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions to take those courses in your sixth year. I take students who have achieved an Acceptable on their OWL to take NEWT-level Charms. Professor Sprout and Professor McDonald also accept students in their classes who have achieved an Acceptable at the end of their fifth year."

Professor Flitwick wrote down the required grades onto the piece of parchment between them. As she watched the professor write down the series of 'E's and 'A's, she said, "I think I can do that."

"I don't doubt you will get the required grades," Professor Flitwick replied. "You have proven yourself in the past. Your brothers both did very well on their OWLs, allowing them to follow their chosen career paths, and I expect you will do the same."

Liv was surprised to find that she was told that she was free to go a few moments later. Having seen Paul leave with only a minute or two to spare in his allotted time, she had been expecting her meeting to run equally as long. Perhaps Paul hadn't had an idea of what he wanted to do or was striving for something out of his reach, either due to grades or the classes he had chosen not to take, or maybe she had been so confident that there had been nothing else to say. Either way, she was happy to be excused, slip of parchment shoved into her school bag.

Liv took the most direct path to the library, avoiding the corridor Peeves had been causing havoc in earlier in the day, just in case. She had to divert her path due to a staircase that had moved in the time since she had gone upstairs, but she was able to make it into the library in good time.

Ignoring the librarian, a stern woman who was overly protective of the books, Liv strode through the room to the table underneath a series of high windows. It was the perfect place: far enough away from the door to avoid the traffic, far enough away from the bookshelves that Madam Pince would not be breathing down your neck the moment you took out an ink bottle, and usually warmer than the other tables since the sun's rays would beat down on you all afternoon. It was something she and her friends had discovered years ago and whenever they had come to the library since, they would try to nab that particular table.

Liv's eye was drawn to the sun shining on a head of red hair that was obviously Lily's. Across the table, she could make out Aurora and Claire, whispering fervently to each other. Greeting them with a smile, she slid into the chair beside Lily. "What are you guys working on?" she asked, nodding in the direction of their parchment scrolls.

"Herbology," Claire said. "Questions about the benefits and drawbacks of self-fertilizing shrubs."

"How did the meeting with Flitwick go?" Aurora asked. She had tossed down her quill, despite the fact that she appeared to be in the middle of a sentence.

"Pretty well. I need mostly 'E's in my OWLs and at least five NEWTs to have a shot at becoming an Unspeakable, but I'm not especially concerned."

Aurora rolled her eyes and Claire chuckled. "It must be nice to not have to worry about grades."

"Well, if you and Naomi want to open a shop you don't really have to worry either," Liv countered. "All you need is enough money to start up making dresses and to rent a storefront. Whether you get a 'P' or an 'O' won't really make a difference for that."

"I suppose," Claire said, sounding wholly unconvinced. "I think my parents would kill me if I don't manage to scrape at least a few NEWTs, though."

Liv had to concede that to her. Claire's family was comprised entirely of witches and wizards for several generations and, despite the fact that the system was a bit difference where her parents had lived, Claire had three older siblings who had made her parents very well acquainted with the British school system. Turning to Lily, Liv asked, "Well, what did McGonagall say for you?"

"I should be able to get into healer training if I keep my grades up," Lily replied. "I have all the classes I'll need, so if I put in effort I should be okay."

"She was not as optimistic with me," Aurora said. "Apparently, the fact that I don't know what I want to do is disastrous." She rolled her eyes. "At least Pip doesn't know what she wants to do either."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Lily said, "but until you know what you actually will need, you should probably do your homework." She rested her green eyes on Aurora's quill, which was slowly dripping tiny dots of ink onto her parchment.

"We can all study together before our OWLs," Liv offered. She paused, before adding, "As long as you promise that you will put in the effort to actually learn all the material." She had spent enough time studying with her friends in the past to realize that there was a reason that she was the only one in Ravenclaw. Lily probably could have done okay in her house, but the others only showed true dedication in subjects that they found interesting. It was better than nothing, she supposed, but it would have made more sense if they were willing to focus on the classes they struggled with rather than those they found easy or that they enjoyed.

Lily nodded along in agreement. "That's actually a good idea," the redhead replied. "I can get help with Potions and let you all know what Sev's advice is."

"I can organize Astronomy stuff," Claire said slowly. It wasn't the most practical class but since they wouldn't be allowed to drop it until the next year, having somebody who excelled at the class would come in handy.

"Fine," Aurora began, "but I'm not going to start studying until after Easter holidays. If we start before, I'll just forget it all anyway."

Knowing that even starting at Easter would be earlier than Aurora would like, Liv let the subject lie. She could start on her own earlier, if she needed to. The looming pressure of needing so many Exceeds Expectations or, preferably, Outstandings was going to be worse if she waited for others to decide to study with her. She supposed that this was just going to be one of those things that she would have to do for herself.


	6. Summer Days

**Summer Days**

_July 1976_

Pippa and Liv were sitting outside Fortescue's Ice Cream shop, under the unusually hot sun. They were eating their ice cream while discussing whether or not Florean, the owners' fourteen-year-old son, had given them more than they paid for or not. Pippa didn't think so, but Liv kept insisting that he had because he thought they were hot.

They were bickering over how big a scoop typically was when Naomi pulled out the third chair at their table and flopped down. "Sorry I'm late. It took longer than I thought to get money changed over in Gringotts."

Pippa was unsurprised to see that her fellow Hufflepuff had taken the time to ensure she looked her best. Naomi was wearing a fashionable peasant blouse and shorts so short Pippa knew that, if she tried to wear them, her mother would tell her that she was never allowed to leave the house in them. Liv's skirt was longer, but not by much. Pippa had thought she looked fine when she had examined herself in the mirror earlier, but compared to curvy Naomi and statuesque Liv she couldn't help but feel like she was the oddball of their group.

"What are we talking about?" Naomi asked in her Irish accent. Her hazel eyes sparkled at the possibility of gossip.

"Pip doesn't seem to think that Florean in there would give us extra ice cream to get on our good sides," Liv said. She licked the blue ice cream off her spoon, drawing the attention of some kids Pippa vaguely recognized from school.

"His parents own the place, he's probably not going to just give stuff away for free," she retorted.

Naomi leaned forward and said, "No, no. That's why he would give stuff for free. It's not like his mum and dad will fire him."

Pippa sighed and decided it was best to change the subject. "Where's your brother?"

"Mum took him to buy his first wand," Naomi said. "He is so excited about it that he couldn't stop asking me questions the entire trip over."

Pippa had received a letter from her housemate the day after her little brother received his Hogwarts letter. Naomi was a Muggleborn like their friend Lily, so this had been big news. Her younger sister hadn't received an invitation to the magical school and they all assumed that Nathan wouldn't either. It seemed like most Muggleborn students had Muggle siblings after all. Naomi had been as shocked as any of them to hear that her baby brother was a wizard.

"How's Miriam taking the news?" Pippa asked. The prospect made her anxious, having spent the better part of five years hearing about Lily's sister's reaction.

She saw that Naomi got the meaning immediately. "She isn't pleased about it, but she's mostly locked herself in her room or been with her friends. She just turned fourteen so she claims she doesn't want to be like us anyway."

"She didn't call either of you the f-word Lily gets then?" Liv asked.

Coming from Liv, Pippa would typically associate that with the swear but it was clear that she was referring to the insult Lily had thrown at her: freak.

Naomi shook her head. "I'm sure she's jealous, but part of her is probably also glad to get us both out of the house. Not only does she get her own room now but she doesn't need to deal with a preteen boy."

"How about your parents?" Pippa asked.

"They're surprised, but they're dealing with it loads better than they were when I got my letter," she said. She stole a spoonful of ice cream out of Pippa's bowl. "They're only really concerned with him leaving because it's awfully far from home. They don't know much about the bad stuff that's happening lately. I don't let them see the papers much."

It was odd in a sense, Naomi feeling like she had to protect her parents from the reality she lived with. It was something she and Liv couldn't relate to at all, having both come from magical families. Not just magical families, they both had smart parents who did their best to keep themselves updated on current affairs and enjoyed intellectual discussions over dinner. Even if Pippa had wanted to hide something big from her parents, it would have to be who-she-was-crushing-on big not people-hating-you big. "What about Nathan? How much are you telling him?"

Naomi sighed. "I don't know what to do guys. I want to protect him, obviously, but I'm not dumb enough to think I can. Obviously, people are going to hate him because of our parents and there's nothing I can do about that. But how do I keep him from getting hurt? I'm obviously going to tell him to keep his head down and that he's in no position to duel or anything yet, but what about his dorm mates or people he thinks are his friends?"

"We'll keep him away from people like Snape," Liv said firmly. "I'll look out for him if he's in Ravenclaw. If anybody says anything to him then I'll threaten to report them to Dumbledore or hex them to their hair falls out. Or both, if it's one of the idiots from our year. And you know he'd have three people looking out for him in Gryffindor."

There was no doubt in Pippa's mind that Liv meant what she said. She also knew that they could do their best if Nathan ended up in one of their three houses, but it wasn't a guarantee. "But what if it's a friend – or somebody he thought was a friend – who ends up calling him a… you know?" Pippa said. "Look at what that did to Lily."

Lily was better at standing up for herself than Pippa was, and she thanked Merlin for that. If she would have been the one being called a Mudblood by her former friend in front of half the school, she would have probably started crying or done something stupid. Lily had managed to hold her ground until later, when they had found her with red-rimmed eyes and practicing her hexes in the classroom they liked to use for homework. They had all known who she had imagined was at the other end of those spells.

It was hard to know what to say when they had found her. Naomi was the only one who really, truly understood how Lily felt being called a slur like that. They'd both been on the receiving end of it, along with other different taunts, over the years. They'd both even kept their heads high, which Pippa was endlessly impressed with. It was one thing coming from a known bigot like Mulciber or Wilkes, though. For Lily to hear it come from the person who had told her about magic had obviously stung her more than she wanted to let on.

"He – said – blood – didn't – matter!" Lily had raged. She'd even shattered a window while she was cursing and casting spells like a madwoman. Pippa didn't think she'd even noticed that though, not even when Liv had hurried across the classroom to repair it.

Her heart had broken for Lily then. She knew she would have been even more of a mess if it had been Rowena or Petra. If one of her sisters was insulted for her blood, it would be like they were insulting her too. And, knowing Naomi, she would constantly be worried that it was aimed at her brother.

"I wish I could just know what everybody's feelings were on blood purity, you know?" Naomi said. "It's easy to hate the ones who shout about it, but what do you do against the ones who pretend they don't notice parentage? What about the people who are always surprised at Lily's magical skill, but who seem to expect my mediocrity?"

"Naomi –" Pippa began, but her friend cut her off.

"It's fine," she insisted. "I know I'm no magical genius. I do fine, but I'm no Lily or Liv. But if you think I don't know that people expect me to only be so-so because I grew up thinking I was a Muggle, you're wrong."

For once, even Liv had nothing to say. When your friend told you that she was dealing with all these things, subtle and overt, that you didn't always pick up on what could you say? The only thing that seemed fitting was an apology for what she had to deal with, but Naomi clearly didn't want that.

When it was clear nobody else was going to fill the silence, Naomi asked, "Speaking of school though, have you gotten your OWL marks back?"

Pippa let out an exaggerated groan. "I got the OWLs I need for the NEWT classes I really want to take and even managed an E in Herbology." Even with the group study sessions, she had been pleasantly surprised by those marks. She started to get congratulations, but she held her hand up. "_But_ Mum and Dad were not pleased with the number of A's I got. Especially because two of them were in Defence and Potions."

Naomi wrinkled her nose. "Ouch."

"It's not surprising." Pippa sighed. "You think they'd realize that I wouldn't do as well as the rest of them, though. Yes, Rowena got six NEWTs this year, three of them Outstandings, but I'm not in Ravenclaw for a reason!" She pointed to Liv with her spoon. "But, speaking of Ravenclaw…"

"Six O's, three E's," Liv replied promptly.

In a very similar reaction to the one Pippa had had when Liv told her, Naomi just shook her head. "If only it was that easy, huh?" she said to Pip. "I only got one O and that was in Muggle Studies. That barely even counts for me!"

"Did you at least get E's in the courses you want to take next year?"

Naomi nodded. "Not that there's as many of them as you, but yes. Enough to keep Mum and Dad off my back, too. Have you heard from any of the others?"

Pippa shook her head. "I can bet how that went, though."

"Lily giving me a run for my money, then Claire, then Aurora?" Liv said.

"Duh," Pippa said. After five years, it was pretty easy to guess how everybody would do on exams. Their results never seemed to vary that much.

Now that they had covered the necessary school updates, they progressed to more fun things, like summer romances. She had gone on a date with one of the other boys who lived in the same neighbourhood as her and Liv, one that was populated by a substantial number of witches and wizards for the size of their population. "I don't know why I let you guys talk me into it, though," she said. "I told you after the Hogsmeade date that there was no spark."

"How could you say that when you hadn't even kissed the guy?" Liv exclaimed far louder than Pippa thought was necessary, drawing glances from others sitting nearby.

"I didn't have to kiss him to know," Pippa huffed. "And I will have you know that the kiss was just as disappointing as I knew it would be when it did come." She felt oddly vindicated.

"Well, at least somebody took you out," Liv retorted. "The best I got was a Muggle boy at a party who tried to grab the girls. He should be glad that I didn't hex him into next week. I probably would have risked it if he was a wizard, but I figured breaking the Statute of Secrecy was more likely to get me expelled than just a little underage magic."

Unsurprisingly, Naomi was the one with the most interesting dating tales. "My Muggle story has a much better ending," she said. "Do you remember when I told you about that cute boy from my Muggle primary school who I ran into over Easter holidays?"

"The cute blond who had grown like five inches since you last saw him? Sure."

"Well, he asked me out and we have been having a lot of fun this summer." Her hazel eyes twinkled.

"Are we talking roller coaster fun or the kind of fun that Aurora and Sirius had during their last attempt at dating?"

Naomi leaned closer and gestured for the other two to do the same. When they had and she seemed satisfied, she whispered, "Both, but I want to talk about the latter."

Pippa's eyebrows shot up. Her she was, having difficulty getting even one decent date out of a guy to turn into a semi-serious relationship and Naomi was going all the way with a second guy.

"How does he compare to Robbie?" Liv asked.

"Better in some ways, worse in others," Naomi replied cryptically.

"That's all you're going to tell us?"

"Of course not," Naomi replied with a laugh. "Okay, now where do I begin?"

As they discussed Naomi's latest conquest in hushed voices, the remains of their ice cream melted in the sun, forgotten.

Author's Note: Six chapters for six friends, this story is now done. Thanks for reading. If you want to see more of what is to come for them, my novel _The Shadows Within_ covers their 6th year and currently has over 50,000 words posted.


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